The Dark Night Of The Soul. Aldivan Teixeira Torres

on the right path and reignite again my confidence in my powers and my instincts. So, I get up and carry on walking in the indicated direction. After a few steps, a sign appears: An arrow pointing to my right with the name of the place that I was looking for: “Abysm Of repentance”. The impact of the goods news leaves dizzy, for I did not expect to find the desired place so easily. I decide to follow immediately the way indicated by the arrow.

      What is happening? Could it be that I was tricked? A good deal of time has already passed since I have taken the path on the right and I haven’t found anything yet. I carry on walking aimless and with a few more steps I reach the edge of the top where it seems to exist only emptiness. Without another alternative, I decide to sit down and think a new strategy. How to start anew? At that very moment I had no idea at all, for I felt lost, desolate and abandoned. Even against my will, the self-control learned in the past disappears completely and the anxiety and fear emerge, despite my recent evolution. For a few moments, I remain in the same position, until something entirely new happens: The mountain ground shakes; the gravitational forces are again disturbed, and in a flash, the woman from the first challenge reappears. Straight away she starts the dialogue.

      —Do you want to discover the mysteries of the abysm of repentance? Know that I can help you I once again.

      —How? I can’t see any abysm here.

      —Don’t be silly. For a mortal to enter the abysm he has first to disincarnate.

      —Do you mean to die? This is out of question, for I am still too young and have a life in front of me.

      —Nothing like that. Literally your body is not going to die. Only your soul will leave it for a few moments so that you can contemplate the abysm and obtain the necessary information. Don’t you want the knowledge? Then pay the price for it.

      —Alright. Do what is necessary.

       Gently, the strange woman made me lay down and shivering chills come over my entire body. At that moment, I try to remain calm, despite the doubts I felt in my heart. Without caring about me, the woman start a ritual and puts her hands on my head. As a result, I feel waves of energy all over my body and slowly I feel sleepy. A few more seconds, I am completely relaxed and my spirit with a jolt gets detached from the flesh. Leaving the body I begin floating and flying without limits. The sensation produced is so good that I ask myself whether is worth continuing to live. I stay for some more time taking advantage of the freedom, until a tunnel appears below me and fiercely sucks me in. Unable to resist, I fall into a deep hole, for a time I cannot measure, and at the end I reach a large chamber in the middle of which there is a mysterious door. It opens immediately as I arrive and an angel comes out and abducts me without any chance of defence. A quick journey takes place ending in a room. I enter the room and find a person already waiting for me. The angel left us alone and with a look of pity implores:

      —Touch me and you will know everything you need.

      Full of compassion, I answer the desperate request and at the precise moment of touching him, visions begin to appear, disturbing my acute senses. At a certain point I see, darkness, sun, lights and dense smoke screens. Little by little everything becomes clear and then I got the vision of the respective story.

      “Ryan was very successful business man in the textile industry, married with three wonderful children, Christian, Andrel and Marta. The family relation was normal, but his ethic aspects did not please everybody. Examples of that are is uncompromising attitude as a boss, his extreme intolerance with the ethnic and racial minorities and detestable behaviour towards beggars and street children. With all this explosive temperament, it is not surprising how he acted on a certain day. In this occasion, Angel knocks at the door, explains the dire situation in his life and finally ask for some money to buy some food or even a dinner to satiate his great hunger. In reply, Ryan gets annoyed and states that in no way he is the father of the poor and slams the door without even a friendly word to That man in need. Angel revolts against the rich people and in a moment of despair puts a curse on Ryan. Years later, Ryan is still in the same state of mind and a certain day he took seriously ill and even fighting with all his vast resources is unable to escape the so feared death. On his arrival at the spiritual world, he is judged and without any possibility of defence he is irremediably condemned by his dark night. Without hope, he descend to the abysm where he will suffer day and night (without respite) for the mistakes he made in life, whilst Angel, was in heaven being comforted.

      The respective vision ends and immediately my body is filled with the necessary knowledge. When I am ready, the person says goodbye and begs a favour of me: I want you to spread my story through the world, for I don’t want my children to come to the suffering place where I am. I promise to comply and finally he leaves. The angel reappears in the room and snatches me for the second time. We travel fast and he leaves me in the room near the door. At the same time a force pushes me upwards and when I come round I am back in my body, at the top of Ororuba Mountain.

Reflections about the challenge

      I try to get up, but the super-human effort I made previously prevents me from doing so. Full of curiosity, I look around for the strange woman that helped me with the challenges, but cannot find a trace of her. Who could she exactly be? What powers did she possess? The only thing I was sure about is that she demonstrated being a wonderful instrument of destiny, with the objective of helping me in the search for such arduous knowledge. A while later, I forget momentarily about the woman and try to get up for the second time. The body tries to resist, but with a little extra effort I finally manage it. Standing up, I could think better and assimilate completely the knowledge revealed at the abysm. When I feel ready, I start my way back towards my temporary abode. Half way, the shadows of the sad story start to perturb me and then I decide to coldly analyse the case. Ryan was the most adequate example that rich people run serious risks as far as salvation is concerned. This because wealth and power bring with them comfort and status, but also require responsibility and detachment from the social causes. Another example, from the bible, shows the greed of the rich and the inhumane conditions of poor Lazarus. Its ending is the same as the story of Ryan and Angel. I analyse the two cases together and end up concluding the greed is a powerful itch of the soul. The characters change, the situations are different, but for those that nurture greed the same tragic end happens: The dark night condemns another victim to perish in the external darkness. How to change that great reality? The answer may be easier than we imagine. It is all to do with following the evolution path, a path towards the Father. Which requires refusals and difficult choices that few are willing to make.

      I think the world would much better if you followed the good examples that history has given us: Jesus Christ, Francis Assis, Martin Luther King, Therese of Calcutta, Sister Dulce, and Francisco Xavier, among other. Certainly, the dark night would not have no more influence over us. Well, that is only a dream. The reality is completely different. Mostly, people show to be materialistic, selfish and full of vanities. It might seem pessimistic, but in my opinion the world will continue under the empire of the dark night and to completely understand it I will have to carry out new challenges and accomplish adventures that I am suspicious of. Of the stages, I have already accomplished two. Let’s carry on together, reader, in search of knowledge. I approach of the cabin that I built with such care. Waiting for me is the guardian lady. I get to her side and she start the dialogue:

      —Congratulations, I see you are in one piece. Could you talk about your experience this afternoon? What have you learned?

      —Initially I decide start from the south, for I have already gone through west and north. I walked for a long time, in that direction, until I was able to find some sign that could direct me. Once directed, I continued walking intensely and sometime later I came face to face with the same woman from the previous challenge that promptly helped me to find my destination, the abysm of repentance. I went forward and arriving exactly at the point I needed, I got in touch with the revelation of the second cardinal sin: Avarice. The story to which I was subjected helped me understand the extension of this sin, the real fate of all those that follow it and finally took some conclusions: Avarice is the key with which the dark night of the soul snatches faithful. It lodges itself in the human heart and senses,